Hand Soap

[csababubbles]

If I am working on a QT that has a fish with a contagious disease, what do I have to do to my hands to then work on my clean display tanks? Is rinsing with hot water and drying with paper towel enough? Or do I have to use soap? I try to avoid using soap before putting my hands in my tanks so was wondering if soap is important to kill the bad stuff?

 

[spongebob lover]

if i was about to do it and you're gonna be working on your main tank, i'd just rinse them good and dry them, then start working on your main display tank and after i'm done, i'd wash my hands really good with soap dood .

 

[csababubbles]

i tried the disposable plastic gloves and they always got water in them so i couldnt trust them. i hate using the big rubber gloves too cause they end up gross and are a pain to wash.

 

[mark peacock]

You need a pair of vets gloves (cattle ones lol)

 

[csababubbles]

they are those long plastic gloves right? i have similar to them but disposables and i always end up snagging them on something causing them to leak

 

[krisfal]

I am interested to see what Lee has to say about this topic. Though I typically use the long gloves (non disposable, the ugly blue and orange things) sometimes I need to do some things without gloves. I know from my time studying vet medicine that nothing we do (washing with or without soap) is going to truly make our hands free of microbes/bacteria. My first thought on the original question would be after working in the QT would be wash with soap, rinse well and then wait 20 minutes, that hopefully the air drying would be enough to destroy the "bad stuff"

As far as the gloves, I have been using mine almost daily for two years and they have not sprung any leaks, the only time I get water in them is either when I did not pull them up far enough, or like last weekend when I discovered I have to put both my shoulder and part of my face in the water to reach the bottom of the new tank. Since then I have found to adjust the direction of my CL nozzles it is easier to turn off the return pump which drops the water level in the tank enough that I do not have to get so wet. I actually considered a snorkel and mask for a few minutes

 

[vwmoneypit]

i think some of the best methods wich i use often are never have messed with harsh cleaners and petro products b4 hand i would say at lease 8hrs.And try to think of what all u are shooting for b4 puting hand in or in another tank afterword.I try to clean myhouse and do the bleaching last and then take a hooot shower and then mess with tank.

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm - I wonder if you could make a white vinegar and water solution to rinse in. I'm also interested in what Lee has to say about this. I've occasionally used the vet sleeves with a latex glove over the hand. It helped to keep the seams in the fingers from leaking. It might be worth using the vet sleeve with latex glove over the hand in the QT, and disposing afterward.

 

[leebca]

Never put hands into marine water of a home marine system.

Wash hands in soap and smell your hands. Smell the soap scent? This contaminates the water. You can't rinse enough. You can't clean the hands enough to make it safe for you nor the fish.

Human oil does not belong in marine water. It is the kind of oil that encourages undesirable bacteria and isn't removed by the skimmer.

Contaminating the water with hand bacteria and water contaminating the hand can lead to disease in both humans and marine life forms. (You know I've written this before).

I use the long length thin plastic disposable gloves. If I have to move rocks or something that might break the glove, then I use the thicker arm-length gloves. I only do use gloves IF I can't move and do things with aquarium tools. I have quite a glove collection, from short and thick to long and thick and thin.

 

[NC2WA]

I will be sure NOT to tell my wife this. I don't want to get "I told you so" speech. She always tells me to buy the arm length gloves that she sees in the LFS.

 

[Sascha D]

So this brings me to a new question of the same releated topic.

If you wear gloves in a QT and then use the same gloves for the DT, then what do you have to do to decontaminate the gloves? I would think that just the fresh water alone will kill any SW organisms right?

 

[NC2WA]

Why not have two pair of gloves??? One for the QT and the other for the main display.

 

[leebca]

I have a completely different set of gloves and tools (nets, scrapers, tongs, etc.) dedicated to/for:
1) QT
2) Display Tank 1
3) Display Tank 2
4) Refugium

(2, 3, and 4 are all connected into the same system).

Tools and non-disposable gloves are rinsed in RO/DI water and allowed to go bone dry before re-use, in the same place (1-4) originally dedicated.

 

[Crumbs]

I use sodium bicarbonate to wash my hands. It works well for me

 

[addocdreefer]

Lee, do you have links to info on your comment about human oils not being picked up by skimmers? i know i probably should use gloves but i feel like i have cerebral palsy trying to eat an icecream cone when using them.
Besides my cleaner shrimp would starve:lol: Thanks, Tom.

 

[leebca]

Don't have the technical reference anymore. Chemically speaking, the 'oil' I am referring to includes the broader concept which includes oil, wax, fats, and cholesterol. The better term would be 'lipids' of course. By human contact these lipids can enter the water. Generally though they 'hang around' feeding microbes. The lipids as a group are not thoroughly removed by the skimmer.

Remember, the skimmer primarily removes proteins, not lipids from the water. Some proteins are complexed with lipid extensions. Some of these 'hybrids' may be removed by the skimmer, but quite often not.

Because of the above, if the hobbyist is serious about pristine water, besides a skimmer, there would also be a need for a chemical filter (e.g., activated carbon) to remove fats. Carbon and some others are not specific to the kinds of large molecules they extract -- be it a fat or a protein or a combo of the two. This becomes even more important if foods and things are put into the water which contain lipid products.

I appreciate the 'clumsiness' of the gloved hand. But with more than several dozen glove types to choose from, one certainly would satisfy as a compromise. I can find no reason to put an ungloved hand into the marine aquarium system water.

The concept of hand feeding is particularly upsetting to me personally. These fishes are not land pets. They live in another world. They don't live in air like we do. Hand feed your cat, snake, and dog, but not marine fishes.